Jan. 11 : Taliparamba - Kerala State!

Wednesday, January 11 :: Taliparamba, India :: 129km today / 2325km total

Another early morning with more confusing roads, but eventually I extricated myself from Mangalore and was back into the rolling coastal countryside. It wasn't far to the border, time for another State - Kerala! Kerala is known as a quiet, affluent, beautiful state with backwater boat trips along palm-tree-lined placid waterways being a tourist must-do. Thats a few days away yet.

A hillier day than I had expected, and although I'm climbing well now (the hell through the Ghats seems to be paying off) it was still a slow ride to Kasaragod, my first waypoint town at 51km in. The road deteriorated into a bumpy chaotic mess for the next 25km, and it was slow slow riding with one eye on the welding prospects. As the heat rose the hills continued, and I spent a good 8km racing an oil truck - passing it on the climbs AND descents, too much fun. Eventually I had to stop for food though, but I'm happy to say it was a few minutes until the truck passed the eatery.

I've found a fantastic, simple new drink that will probably be a staple of the rest of my time here in South Asia - freshly squeezed lime juice (JUST the juice from the lime) mixed by me with bottled mineral water. It takes some explaining, since the Indians usually like to add sugar and salt (as well as tap water) to lime juice, but its heaven once they get the gist of what I'm after. Incredibly refreshing, I can put away 2 litres of water like this in one short sitting. Sometimes they think its strange that I don't want the salt or sugar, but then again, I think its strange that they worship beings with monkey or elephant heads, so we're even.

Things are definitely different here in Kerala. For the first time I've seen food served on a leaf. The backwaters are very beautiful when the road crosses them, its palm trees in all directions. The people are a little darker-skinned than their Northern cousins, and the men often walk around with a sarong-like garment wrapped around their legs. English is less-widely spoken than I thought it would be, but apparently literacy is close to 100% here (of the local tongue).

Just after the afore-mentioned food stop I felt woozy, too much blood in the belly, not enough in the head. The legs were dead, the heat was full-on, time to call it a day. Tonight I have another immaculate marble-floored room with TV, hot water, double bed, etc etc, very cheap at $8.